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February 1 5, 2001
A day in the life of a UNCW police officer
Heather Grady
Ass’T News Editor
For many students, not ever seeing
the inside of a police car is a good sign
that they are doing something right.
However, most students then also
miss the opportunity to gaze inside the
car and glimpse at a slice of life of the
officer inside.
University Police Sgt. Gunnar
Matthews, an Ohio native, often
spends his day riding throughout the
campus, watchful of the students spill
ing out on the lawn. His police car
swells with the wail of the radar ev
ery few seconds as other vehicles pass
by-
Mathews, like the other campus of
ficers, has grown so familiar with the
pitch of the wailing radar that he can
estimate the car’s speed by the sound.
Being able to distinguish the pitches
of various speeds enables him to con
tinue watching the road while decid
ing whether to lock the speed of the
passing car into the system and fol
low-up with a ticket.
Before and after each shift, the of
ficers are responsible for using a tun
ing fork to calibrate the radar system.
They must also calibrate the radar af
ter each ticket is written.
Before coming to campus just over
two years ago, Matthews worked with
The UNCW police de
partment recently pur
chased several new
Chevrolet patrol ve
hicles to add to their
stable of modern
equipment.
The department em
ploys the latest technol
ogy in their vehicles, in
cluding laptop comput
ers, front-and-back ra
dar guns and video re
corders
Thomas M Ruyle/the Seahawk
the Topsail Island Police Department
for eight years.
“[Working on campus] is a unique
experience. It’s different from work
ing in a municipality. It’s a different
style of community. The biggest thing
is that you get to know the people in
the community right here on campus,”
Matthews said.
According to Matthews, traffic vio
lations for Topsail Island were ex
tremely seasonal. In a summer shift,
15 cars could easily be ticketed. How
ever, during the winter, three weeks
could pass without a radio call. At
UNCW approximately three cars are
stopped during each officer’s shift,
with variation during the individual
day and season^
See police, Page 5
Professional Writing Certificate offered this fall
CLINT BULLDCK
INDEX
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OP/ED
Classifieds..................
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STAFF WRITER
Students will have a new option
available to them under the current
English major next fall. The pro
fessional writing certificate will be
available after more than a year of
planning.
With this new addition, students
now have a fifth option under the
English degree, making it one of the
most versatile majors on campus.
Interested students graduating De
cember 2001 or later, may qualify
for the certificate.
Any previous technical or busi
ness writing English classes taken
previously will carry over to the
professional writing certificate, ac
cording to Dr. Elizabeth Ervine, as
sociate professor of En
glish.
“I am getting a lot of
enthusiasm from my
students and they are
excited about it,” said
Ashe, assistant profes
sor of English. “The
English faculty is very
excited too.”
Last year the cre
ative and professional
writing option split and
the creative writing de
partment was formed.
Since the split, the En
glish department felt
there was a need to es
tablish a professional
writing option.
See Writing, Page 5